Politics vs. Empathy in Charleston

By Chris Barnes, on June 27th, 2015

The families of the 9 slain at the Emanuel AME Church have already spoken. Theirs is a message of Love and forgiveness and yet hordes of protesters gather in the capital city to mute a national message of unity for the sake of political division. They are not preaching love, but are rather angrily demanding the removal of the confederate flag from the capital as if the flag itself pulled the trigger that left America shocked yet again at the result of an evil that could murder in cold blood only to claim morality in a twisted feat of (il)logic. I’m pretty sure these “protesters” have no idea that they too have a twisted sense of logic with regard to both politics and the flag they are now protesting against.

The Confederate flag is not a symbol of Racism. The use of the confederate flag is representative of the state’s heritage as one of the confederate states. Sure, South Carolina was a “slave state” before the Civil War, but what the protesters don’t understand is that not all slaves were black and not all slave owners were white. Some of the most horrific tales of slave abuse occurred with Irish (white) Slaves while some of the cruelest treatment of black slaves came at the hands of black slave owners. So where is the inherent racism in that flag?

The Confederate flag is also irrelevant to the tragedy at hand. The crime was perpetrated by someone who, as more information is released, appears to be a white supremacist of sorts. White supremacists don’t use the confederate flag as a symbol, and this boy wasn’t enslaving the church members, but was exterminating them. White supremacists are at their core Eugenicists and are better represented by (and most often self identify with) Naziism. The last time I checked there were no Nazi flags flying in the Capital of South Carolina.

Asking for the removal of the Confederate flag after this tragedy is like asking Exxon to pay for a BP oil spill just because we don’t like their logo. They are unrelated and these professional protesters are politicizing an event at the expense of the victims; the families of those victims are calling for unity, peace and love rather than the blind activism and hatred like that on display at the capitol building.

As we gather in support of the victims and their families, how about we show a little empathy. The families are not responding in anger so when you do, you bring dishonor to the memories of the victims of this senseless tragedy. We have to stop dividing by color and instead stand united against evil… as Americans… with Love.